My Current Skincare Routine Step 2: Water-Based Cleanser (CosRX Low pH Good Morning Gel Cleanser Review)

Step 1 Day/Step 2 Night: Double Cleansing Step 2 Water-Based Cleanser

CosRX's Low pH Good Morning Gel Cleanser

This cleanser is a K-beauty cult favorite item, and for good reason: it's gentle AF, refreshing, does the job, and best of all it's affordable AF! This cleanser has a refreshing feel to it when you first put it on your face, making it perfect for waking you up in the morning and turning your mornings into a "good morning". This is because it has tea tree oil (which you can smell) and lower on its ingredient list is willow bark which is a natural source of salicylic acid; an acne-treating ingredient and BHA, which makes it somewhat useful for treating low levels of acne (although it isn't marketed as an acne cleanser). Caution: both ingredients can also make it irritating to sensitive skin types.

This is also a foaming cleanser (specifically a gel-to-foaming cleanser), which are an essential step in the Korean double-cleansing method to wash off the oil cleanser and any remaining makeup you didn't get off from the first step (specifically this is the 2nd step, although technically that is simply called a "water-based cleanser" or basically all normal non-oil-based cleansers). I typically highly recommend avoiding foaming cleansers as they have high pH which can irritate your skin, and also tend to be very drying as they're meant to be used after the highly emollient oil cleansers.

However in this rare particular case this is a specifically-formulated low pH cleanser, making it much safer for sensitive skin, and ideal for everyone's skin. The pH you want your facial cleanser to be is slightly acidic or lower pH which is about 5.5. One of the only foaming cleansers I would recommend for the double cleansing method! (The others being other low-pH foaming cleansers.)

You do need to use a little more product than with some other cleansers, but it's so affordable it kind of doesn't really matter, and it has a very pleasant sensorial experience. It has a satisfying gentle lather, and best of all it doesn't break out my sensitive acne-prone skin!

You can use any ordinary water-based facial cleansers for the 2nd step of double-cleansing, and there's nothing wrong with that at all, but for the die-hard K-beauty fan or curious Korean skincare neophytes, this is the best "authentic"-feeling foaming cleanser and 2nd-step cleanser to get!

My Affordability Grade: Very/Pretty Affordable from $9.00-$12.00 for 150ml / 5.07 fl oz

Where to get it: It's available on all kinds of K-beauty websites (such as YesStyle, Jolse, StyleKorean, and SokoGlam) but the easiest -- and fastest way to get this Korean cleanser in the US is from Amazon.

You'll only have to wait a few days to a week to get it to your house (as opposed to the typical 3 week wait to get a delivery from South Korea without Express EMS shipping, which typically costs about $30+), or iHerb which has now moved its K-beauty to it's new brand website LoveLetter, which ships to over 150 countries, has $1 shipping on all items or free shipping with $20+ orders and 24/7 international customer support services in 12 languages.